English Activities

Harvard Book Prize 2022

The Harvard Book Prize is awarded to exceptional S5 students who have accomplished academic excellence and have made impactful contributions as responsible members of society. On 27th of May, we were honoured to receive the Harvard Book Prize Essay Awards after joining the Harvard Book Prize Scholarship Competition. The ceremony was held at the Catholic Ming Yuen Secondary School and as one out of eleven semi-finalists in Hong Kong, Anna had an opportunity to be interviewed by the judges about her thought process while writing her essay. Later, she had photos taken with the judges and other semi-finalists for this prestigious award. Along with their certificates, the three winners of our school, 5A Anna Chan Jour-Yain, 5A Nicole Chan Cheuk Yu and 5E Sally Po Tsoi Nam, received a book entitled The Present by Spencer Johnson, which is about a man’s journey as he faces challenges during unprecedented changes just like how we have adapted to a “new normal” during this pandemic. As the semi-finalist, Anna has been invited to join the Harvard Mentorship Program and benefit from the meeting and learning from their alumni in Hong Kong. 

 

5A Anna Chan Jour-Yain, the award semi-finalist, and the judging panel of the Harvard Club of Hong Kong.

 

5A Anna Chan was awarded the book prize with her teacher advisor, Ms Yeung.

 

Fittingly, we were asked to write an essay on a particular topic, experiencing alienation during the pandemic. We agreed that the contest was not an academic burden nor a waste of time, but in fact, it made us contemplate serious issues in our society and deepened our thinking. We believe that joining this writing contest has broadened our horizons and enhanced our writing skills. Overall, it was an invaluable opportunity to share our thoughts and receive constructive feedback from the judges.

In the end, we would like to express our gratitude to our English teacher, Ms. Yeung, who provided us with enormous support and guidance throughout this nomination process. As well, special thanks to Mr. Hedley who accompanied us to the ceremony, and we would like to thank the school for giving this priceless opportunity to participate in a contest hosted by such a widely-recognized institution.

5A Anna Chan and 5E Sally Po

 

You can check out Anna’s winning essay through here.

 

5E Sally Po and 5A Nicole Chan with their teachers Ms Yeung and Mr Hedley.

 

2022-2023 Lantern Riddles Guessing Competition

2022-2023 A Colourful Kick-start of the School Year: Lantern Riddles Guessing Competition

In early September, an array of festive lanterns in different colours hung in the school covered playground invigorated all teachers and students. Why was the campus decorated with vibrant-coloured lanterns? That’s obvious! They were for celebrating one of the best festivals of everyone’s childhood, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

From 8 to 13 September, the English Society organized a lantern riddle guessing competition in collaboration with some Chinese, English and Mathematics teachers at our school. Unlike the past few years, this year’s competition started a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival and continued until after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, so that students and teachers could have a blast enjoying the fun of lantern riddle guessing.

The most surprising of this year’s riddles must be those with Mathematics elements. These challenging yet fun riddles encouraged students to discuss with their fellow schoolmates, which further enhanced the interactive learning environment at school. 

Do have a look at one of the most impressive riddles – “Break it and it gets better, immediately set and harder to break again.” What is the answer? Try to work it out with family or friends.

 

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The English Society members helping with the Lantern Guessing Competition

co-organised with Chinese Society and Mathematics Society.

 

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Students challenging themselves in the lantern riddle guessing game

 

 

The lantern riddle guessing competition was great fun. We took some time after school to hang all the lanterns onto a piece of string in the school cafeteria. I passed by the other day and so many students were trying to guess the answers. The corridor was so crowded! Everyone got most of the answers wrong but it was still pretty fun.

Fung Hiu Yu Denise – 5E

 

I enjoyed the lantern riddle guessing activity a lot. It was nice to have such a traditional game about Chinese festivals at school because I had never had a chance to play this game with my friends or family members. I will definitely test my parents with these riddles!

Aatiqa Mohammed – 1B


2021-2022 Summer Step-up School: Building the Love of English

In early August, over 100 students from S1 to S3 were invited to attend Summer Step-up School organized by the English Department. The 2-week comprehensive programme aimed at motivating the students to build the love of English. Not only were they given the chance to enhance their fundamental English skills, but their interest and motivation in English learning was also greatly improved. Besides benefitted from the grammar and vocabulary drilling, the participants were amazed by the fascinating hands-on English activities such as handicraft making, doing make-up and cross-stitching. These course materials and activities were carefully chosen to match with the daily lives of students, so that they can continue to practise their English skills and use the language even after the program has ended.

 

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The students are designing and making their own “parachute for egg-dropping”.

 

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The students are having fun, watching English videos together in the School Theatre.

 

Last but not least, with the take-home assignments, dictations and short quizzes during the programme, students have shown significant improvement in English and high satisfaction in the programme.

 

I thought it would be another English lesson on normal school days. However, the teacher and senior-form students taught us many new words about topics that I had never explored before. For example, we learnt many names of different cosmetic products. I learnt the names of the shape of our face and tried out the first make-up entirely done on my own by following all English instructions!

 

Chloe Leung – 2B 

 
 

Bronze Award – The 14th English Radio Drama Competition 2022

A radio drama is an acoustic performance using only your voice and sound effects. It is surely an unforgettable experience for both the performers and audience.

 

This year, four of my friends and I joined the 14th English Radio Drama Competition hosted by the Smart Education Charitable Foundation. It was a competition against an astronomical number of schools in Hong Kong and Macau. Over 200 teams joined, but only 11 teams had the chance to perform their radio drama live in front of judges and an audience in the Final round. We never tried anything like this, so we gave our best shot during the whole competition.

 

First, each team had to submit a script based on one of three topics. We chose the topic about exploring “uncharted waters”, which was about stepping out of our comfort zones to search for our inner self or exploring the meaning of life. As a team, we collaboratively discussed the story we wanted to share and developed characters with distinct personalities.

 

Next, 30 semi-finalists were announced (15 from the Primary level and 15 from the Secondary level). As one of the semifinalists, we then had to perform a 5-minute radio drama and submit our recording. We recorded our lines and edited them with sound effects to engage the listeners. Our group worked tirelessly at the school library to create a lively and realistic radio drama. With all the effort we put forth, we were satisfied with the end-product.

 

Months later, the finalists were announced, and we were one of five teams from the Secondary Division invited to perform our radio drama live at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It was a unique experience performing live for a panel of adjudicators and audience which included our competitors, teachers and even some parents.

 

On the day of our live and final performance, we were up against four top schools in Hong Kong, making it quite nerve-racking at first. We gave our best performance, and alas, we were awarded the Bronze Award!

 

As such, this radio drama competition broadened our horizons, and we gained much more knowledge and ideas on this topic. It was a bittersweet moment since I will be leaving Hong Kong, but I am glad I had this truly unforgettable experience to collaborate with my friends at Hong Kong True Light College.

 

Performing at the 14th English Radio Drama Competition at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

 

Being awarded the Bronze Award from the panel of adjudicators.

 

Arriving at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

 

Awaiting our results from the competition.

 

Along with our trophy, we received gift bags with book coupons, stuffed toys, boxes of masks and other goodies.

 

Watch our live performance:

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Gift redemption days, July 2022

To encourage all students to actively participate in English activities, we have launched a stamp collection initiative in the English Activities Award Scheme in which students can collect stamps from the English Society after their participation. The most rewarding activity of the year should surely be the gift redemption days when students came to pick their favourite rewards from a year of active participation!

 

Students picking and choosing from baskets of gifts on the gift redemption day

 

Sharing the joy of gifting and learning in English with the English Society with your buddies

 

MI Young Writers Awards 2022

MI Young Writers Award 2022 is an annual English writing competition that aims to foster and recognize excellence in English writing by providing students with the opportunity to develop their expressive talents and creativity. This year, 2A Chow Ching Shun Lydia from the Junior Section, 5A Wong Tsz Ching Ada and 5E Lam Yu Kwan Yolanda from the Senior Section had their essays selected as the Top 50 essay among all Hong Kong contestants with the topics “Should smartphones be allowed in school?” and “If you became a social media influencer, what would you post about?” Congratulations to Lydia, Ada, and Yolanda for their achievements.

 


2A Chow Ching Shun Lydia and her teacher Miss Lam.

 


5A Wong Tsz Ching Ada (left) and 5E Lam Yu Kwan (right) with their teacher Miss Yeung.

 

You can read their winning essays through the following links: 

(“Should Smartphones be Allowed in School?” by Chow Ching Shun Lydia)
(“Being an Inspiring Social Media Influencer” by Wong Tsz Ching Ada)
(“An Influencer, how?” by Lam Yu Kwan Yolanda)

 

73rd Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival

This year, forty students ranging from S1 to S5 participated in the 73rd Speech Festival hosted by the Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association. This annual event provided students with an opportunity to gain confidence in performing poetry and prose in English. As well, students were able to raise their English speaking standard through this experience.

 

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded 2nd and 3rd places in their respective categories.

 

5A(4)

Cheung Tin Nam, Tina

2nd place in S5 Girls Solo Verse Speaking

5E(10)

Lam Yu Kwan, Yolanda

2nd place in S5 Girls Solo Verse Speaking

1A(12)

Leung Ka Yu, Katie

3rd place in S1 Girls Solo Verse Speaking

5E(5)

Chung Ching Ting, Tiffany

3rd place in S5 Girls Solo Verse Speaking

1A(17)

Phagami Eva 

3rd place in S1 Girls Solo Prose Reading

 

Also, congratulations to all participants who received Certificates of Merits and Proficiency! We hope this event can encourage more students to join next year.

 

1A Eva Phagami received 3rd place in the S1 Girls Solo Prose Reading.

 

5E Tiffany Chung received 3rd  place in the S5 Girls Solo Verse Speaking.

 

1A Katie Leung also received 3rd place in the S1 Girls Solo Verse Speaking.

 

The HKFYG English Public Speaking Contest 2022

This school year, selected students from Secondary 2 joined the annual HKFYG English Public Speaking Contest 2022 hosted by the HKFYG Leadership Institute. To prepare for the contest, students attended evening workshops on November 24 and December 1 at the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Building. It was an invaluable experience for students to get an opportunity to enrich their public speaking skills and share their speeches in front of their peers from different schools.

After the workshops, students entered the competition drafting their own speeches on a self-selected topic. Our students chose topics ranging from artificial intelligence to cloning to even the art of procrastination. On March 4, it was announced that 2B Melanie Wong and 2A Chara Yip had advanced to the District Semi-Finals with their captivating and relevant topics, the benefits of learning different languages and the implementation of VR in lessons, respectively. 

Yip Ho Ching, Chara 2A27

Certificate of District Semi-Finalist

Wong Yi Ching, Melanie 2B25

Certificate of District Semi-Finalist

Sherchan, Raeka 2A18

Certificate of Good Performance

Fung Hiu Nam, Hannah 2A10

Certificate of Participation

Chow Ching Shun, Lydia 2A08

Certificate of Participation

Wong Hoi Wing, Holly 2A25

Certificate of Participation

Ip Hei Tung, Renee 2B13

Certificate of Participation

Congratulations to all the participants!

 

Reflections from:

2B Melanie Wong

This year, I joined the HKFYG English Public Speaking Contest. I was astonished and almost cried when I received the notice that I had been admitted to the District Semi-Finals as I didn’t expect that I would enter the Semi-Finals. I am usually full of dread when it comes to having to speak in front of people, especially strangers. However, through this experience, it boosted my confidence and improved my speaking habits. I have learnt the skills of how to change the tone of voice and body language, for example, by using hand gestures and facial expressions.

My speech is about the benefits of learning different languages. It is about the benefits and the importance of learning new languages. It helps us connect with other cultures, improves our memory and boosts our confidence.

2A Chara Yip

I participated in the HKFYG English Public Speaking Contest this year. It was a lot of fun, and a crazy experience since I was not expecting myself to get into the Semi-Finals of the contest. When I attended th [......]


Championship in HKSSDC Junior 2021-22

Working tirelessly over the Christmas holidays, the S3 debate team pulled together to face off against a fierce opponent in the term 1 final of the Hong Kong Secondary Schools Debating Competition(HKSSDC). Charged with the topic “This House would allow negative advertising by companies against their competitors,” 3A Nicole Chan, 3A Jasie Chow and 3A Mary Mikfung Thewe argued fervently for negative advertising. With a very close match, the Hong Kong True Light College team managed to pull ahead and secure victory, becoming the champion of 2021-22 Hong Kong Secondary School Debating Competition Junior (Div II) (HKI & NT) Term 1 Final. Further sweetening the triumph, 3A Jasie Chow was awarded the best speaker of the match. As they proceed onto the second term, and hopefully the Grand Final, let’s all wish them the best and encourage them in their work!

 

During their regular training, the Junior Debate Team took their moment to celebrate their victory.

 

First win in Term 2 in HKSSDC Senior Team

Covid can stop us from going to school, but not from learning together. Although the epidemic has brought the holiday earlier, the HKSSDC debate competition was still held in the form of zoom. On the 30th of March, 5A Nicole Chan, Anna Chan and Tina Cheung, led by their team advisor, Ms. Yeung, defeated Tsung Tsin College in the motion “This house will deny smokers access to public healthcare.”

 

Participating in this competition as the chairperson this time, I felt the tremendous efforts of the debaters in this nerve-wracking match. I admire that our experienced debaters still put forward various arguments and evidence. Finally, impressed by their clear team line and good rebuttals,  the adjudicator announced that they won in this debate competition. Even though I wasn’t a debater, I learned some valuable debating skills from the adjudicator’s deliberations and their perfect teamwork. Congrats once again for their hard work paid off, and I look forward to the debate team continuing to be victorious.

- 5E Sophie Tam